Original subtitles

NARRATOR: This program is about unsolved mysteries.

Whenever possible, the actual family members

and police officials have participated

in recreating the events.

What you are about to see is not a news broadcast.

ROBERT STACK: Tonight, the season premiere

of "Unsolved Mysteries."

December 26, 1980, a US Air Force security patrol

told of seeing a mysterious, unearthly visit

near their airbase in England.

During the next two nights, a rash of sightings

astounded even the most skeptical military men.

For years, these sightings were cloaked

in secrecy, until tonight.

For the first time, former Air Force personnel

go on camera to tell of a close encounter

with what they believe were UFOs.

Shane Stewart and Sally McNelty of San Angelo,

Texas were typical teenagers, until they became involved

with a bizarre underground cult. On July 4, 1988,

Shane and Sally mysteriously disappeared.

Four months later, their bodies were finally discovered.

Both had been murdered.

When Carla Downing was 16, she lost her mother

in an automobile accident.

25 years later, after her father passed away,

Carla would discover a surprising secret hidden

in her tangled family history.

The woman she knew as her mother was not her mother after all.

Join me for these fascinating new stories

on the season premiere of "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]

The 81st Tactical Fighter Wing of the United States Air Force

operates out of southeast England.

In a unique arrangement, the Wing

is housed on twin bases, Woodbridge and Bentwaters.

The two air bases border a three mile

expanse of farmland and woods known as Rendlesham Forest.

In 1980, Rendlesham was a site of one

of the most extraordinary and least publicized

events in modern military history.

Around 2:00 AM on December 26, Airman First Class John

Burroughs and his partner, both assigned to Woodbridge

Base Security, were on routine patrol

along the base perimeter.

Hey, what the hell's that, over there?

ACTOR AS JOHN BURROUGHS: Geez.

I don't know. What the hell is that?

I don't know, I've never seen anything like it before.

ACTOR AS JOHN BURROUGHS: It's out in the middle of the woods.

Come on, let's go back to the guard station, call the Sarge.

See what he wants to do.

All right.

JOHN BURROUGHS: There was definitely

something out in the woods.

It seemed like, to me, like a massive light show.

I'm thinking, who would come out in the middle

of the woods outside an Air Force base

to make a Christmas display?

I was nervous, he was nervous, we didn't know what to expect,

and we decided at that point in time

we better get back and let somebody

know what's going on in case something did happen.

ROBERT STACK: Burroughs notified his immediate superior

from a nearby sentry post.

ACTOR AS JOHN BURROUGHS: Yeah, we

got some kind of weird activity in the woods, off the base.

Hey, John.

ACTOR AS JOHN BURROUGHS: Yeah, sure, I can see them from here.

It's still going on.

Yeah, look, it's some kind of weird lights in the trees.

I don't know, they're moving all up and down.

ROBERT STACK: Almost simultaneously,

another security patrol arrived.

They verified the presence of the off lights.

All right, hold on.

He wants three men to do down off base.

You coming with us?

Nope.

All right, look.

We'll say in radio contact.

We're going off base, leave your weapons.

ROBERT STACK: Burroughs and the second security team

were sent off base to investigate.

They were ordered to leave their weapons

behind, because they were moving out of American jurisdiction.

JOHN BURROUGHS: We were intrigued,

but we were also very nervous.

We didn't know what we were getting into.

We started in on foot towards the lights.

At the same time, we could hear the animals were very upset.

We could hear a lot of ruckus.

At that point, we got a radio transmission.

They'd just gotten contact from Heathrow Tower in London

that an object had been seen over our base,

and it had disappeared on radar.

SECURITY GUY 1: Is that is?

ACTOR AS JOHN BURROUGHS: I can't tell.

JOHN BURROUGHS: All of a sudden in the clearing,

there was an object.

It had a bank of blue lights on it,

and it was sitting there, like, strobing.

It was unbelievable.

We all hit the ground, and it went up into the trees.

When it was happening, everything seemed to go slower.

We seem to be like a--

I wouldn't say a time warp, but like,

everything appeared to be happen slower to us,

and everything felt different.

But when it was all-- when it disappeared,

it was like everything was normal again.

The perception of the ground, the air,

the sky, the stars, the whole nine yards were different.

SECURITY GUY 2 : Where's it go?

ROBERT STACK: For more than two hours,

the three men played an eerie game of cat and mouse

with the mysterious craft.

It appeared almost to toy with them.

JOHN BURROUGHS: It was off the ground in the horizon,

above the trees.

And it always stayed out in the distance, in the horizon.

It sometimes appeared to get close,

and we were going to get close to it again.

And then we never did.

The events of that December night

set in motion a chain reaction that would eventually result

in the best documented sighting of a UFO

in American military history.

The United States Air Force has no official comment

on the entire incident, but tonight the military personnel

who actually witnessed the events will appear

on camera for the first time.

Just five hours after the sighting,

John Burroughs reported to his shift commander.

COMMANDER: At ease.

Spit it out, what did you see?

Well, sir, after we received permission to continue

into the woods, we, um--

SECURITY GUY 1: We saw some lights, sir.

Red ones and some white ones.

And, well, sir, they um.

Flew up into the trees.

JOHN BURROUGHS: He basically said,

gentlemen, you saw something.

The Heathrow tower confirms that you saw something, and now

let's go out into the area and see

if we can find any physical proof of what happened.

I was hoping when I got out there that basically I

would see nothing.

There would be no tell tale evidence that possibly

something happened.

That would make it easier for me, because if there's nothing

proving that something happened to me,

you can just kind of check it off.

But when you get out there and you find damage to the trees,

depressions in the ground and stuff, that makes

it even more unexplainable.

We came up through the woods to this point right about here.

I see.

We saw it hovering--

ROBERT STACK: Later that same day, Burroughs rendezvoused

with a British police officer.

Together, they explored the site where Burroughs

had seen a strange object.

We were watching for about 20 minutes.

See this?

ROBERT STACK: Indeed, there were circular impressions

in the earth directly below the spot where the craft

had appeared to hover.

ACTOR AS JOHN BURROUGHS: What could have made that?

JOHN BURROUGHS: It was more of a mystery.

Because when I first saw it, I didn't perceive it

as something sitting on the ground with a tripod-- like,

a tripod type thing.

Now, all of a sudden there's physical proof

showing that something sat down in that area.

3.4 meters.

ROBERT STACK: The British police officer

dismissed the circles as the marks

of burrowing forest animals.

Nevertheless, he did order his men

to measure the distance between the circles.

3.4 here, too.

ROBERT STACK: Surprisingly, the three circles were exactly

the same distance apart and formed

a perfect equilateral triangle.

3.4 as well.

ROBERT STACK: Early the next morning, Colonel Charles Halt,

Deputy Base Commander, arrived at Woodbridge

Security Headquarters.

Rumor of the UFO sighting had spread like wildfire.

[snickering]

What's going on?

Colonel, you're not going to believe this, but--

Burroughs and Peniston were running around the woods

last night chasing after UFOs.

[laugh]

UFOs, what are you talking about?

Listen, I thought they were yanking me,

but the guy saw something.

They thought an aircraft went down, so they went and looked.

There were these lights in the woods, and--

Why isn't that in the blotter?

The Lieutenant didn't want me to put that in, sir.

Is anybody sure it wasn't an aircraft that went down?

No, sir.

Then put it in a blotter

Yes, sir.

COL. CHARLES HALT: I was very skeptical.

I found what had allegedly taken place hard to believe,

and I was really going to debunk it, quite frankly.

And as events unfolded, I became more and more concerned that

there may be something to this.

I kept telling myself that there had

to be some type of an explanation for it,

but I certainly couldn't find one, and even to this day

I can't explain what happened.

Straight back, straight back.

ROBERT STACK: That evening, unusual lights

were spotted once again.

In response, the base commander ordered

large mobile floodlights, devices

commonly known as light-alls to be set up in the woods.

Good!

All right, moving out!

ROBERT STACK: At 9:30 PM, Colonel Halt

received word that the light-alls were

inexplicably malfunctioning.

I don't know, sir, craziest damn things I've ever seen.

Animals in a forest are acting weird.

Starlight scopes going bad, radios ain't working,

light-alls ain't coming up.

Let's get out there and see what we got.

All right, sir.

This is Colonel Halt to command, we're going

out to Rendlesham Forest--

During the next six hours, Colonel Charles Hart

will be swept up in an unbelievable series of events

which would prove to be one of the most elaborate encounters

of the UFO ever documented.

When we return, the details of Colonel Halt's odyssey.

In 1980, just after Christmas, strange lights

appeared in a forest near two American air bases

in southeast England.

Security at both bases sprang into action.

Large portable floodlights, like this one,

commonly known as light-alls are positioned in the woods.

Security police hope to catch another glimpse

of a glowing object sighted two nights earlier.

But the light-alls mysteriously malfunctioned.

Base security was immediately ordered to dispatch

a second set of light-alls.

Simultaneously, Colonel Charles Halt,

Deputy Commander of both bases, put together

a special investigative team.

I called the on duty or standby

a man of disaster preparedness and had him get his camera.

He was a professional photographer,

and calibrate several RADIAC instruments to take along.

We were going to go debunk this.

ROBERT STACK: By the time Colonel Halt

arrived at the site, the second set of light-alls

was also malfunctioning.

What's going on, sergeant?

Colonel, we're having a little problem.

COL. CHARLES HALT: Some of the vehicles

weren't working properly, and radio transmissions

were limited at best.

OK.

Lieutenant, where'd you see that light?

It's right through there, sir.

ROBERT STACK: Armed with a Geiger counter,

a starlight scope to enhance night vision, and a tape

recorder to record his first impressions,

Colonel Halt led his team into the woods.

Let's go.

Follow me, sir.

ROBERT STACK: What you are about to see

is based on verbatim transcripts of the tape made that night.

We're in the center of a triangle.

SGT. ROBERT BALL It didn't take us long to find what I believe

was a landing site of some sort.

The trees had had branches broken off--

ROBERT STACK: One of the members of Colonel Halt's team

was Sergeant Robert Ball

--as we looked up, and we had high powered flashlights with

us, and we could see branches, up to an inch,

two inches in diameter, which had

either been knocked completely off or had been bent downward.

And it was clean up to the top of the trees.

We looked at the area through the starlight scope,

and it did, I'll have to admit, have a dull glow

that I couldn't explain.

Over here.

COL. CHARLES HALT: So we got the RADIAC instruments out,

and we're taking readings.

Four clicks, Colonel.

COL. CHARLES HALT: And while we were doing this,

the police lieutenant said look, over there.

POLICE LIEUTENANT: Colonel!

Sir?

COL. CHARLES HALT: A strange glowing object that appeared

to be 100, 200 meters away.

I couldn't explain it.

Lights out, everybody.

COL. CHARLES HALT: It was avoiding the pine trees,

zigzagging around them.

It kind of winked at us.

Strangest thing I've ever seen, sir.

Strange.

Looks like an eye, winking at you.

COL. CHARLES HALT: It approached us and one time.

We just stood there in awe.

Watched probably for a minute or two, maybe a little more.

ROBERT STACK: Finally, the object began to move away.

Colonel Halt and his men followed.

COL. CHARLES HALT: As we were pursuing this glowing object

through the woods, we noticed a farmhouse

directly in front of us.

We've got a reading of two on the counter, that's much higher

than background radiation.

COL. CHARLES HALT: The farmhouse appeared

to be glowing very brightly, as though it were on fire.

You reckon there's somebody in there, sir?

I don't know, Lieutenant.

COL. CHARLES HALT: The object then broke into five

white objects, and disappeared.

Let's go.

It was a very strange feeling in the air.

It made your hair bristle, sort of like static electricity.

You just had a very unusual feeling.

And I don't think it was all psychological,

I think there was something physiological about it.

There was-- there was something to it.

I don't know what it was.

We ventured on toward the coast, trying

to decide what to do next.

SGT. ROBERT BALL: We looked to the north,

and about 30 degrees off the horizon

there were three objects in the sky.

They started moving, rapidly about,

in sharp, angular movements, as though they

were exercising some type of formation or search pattern.

I'm not really sure what it was.

We now have multiple sightings of up to three objects,

of a similar--

COL. CHARLES HALT: I think there was some type of guiding

force behind these objects.

Whether it was trying to communicate,

whether it was trying to warn us,

or whether it was trying to do something to us, I don't know.

To me, it looked like a grid search.

They were boxing off an area and looking for something.

And that was the thought that hit me right away,

and that stayed with me over the years.

It looked like a search pattern.

ROBERT STACK: Colonel Halt's initial skepticism

eroded with each passing minute and each bizarre sighting.

There's definitely something up there.

Hey, we've got an object.

COL. CHARLES HALT: We could very clearly see it,

it sort of danced about the sky, and it

sent down beams of light.

I noticed other beams of light coming

down from the same object, following

different places on the base.

My boss, standing in his front yard at Woodbridge, and he

could see the beams of light falling down.

And the people in the weapons storage area

and several other places on the base also reported the lights.

I woke up about 3:30, 4:00 in the morning,

and for whatever reason, I felt like maybe something happening,

and I don't know why, I just woke up and felt

like something that came back.

Don't ask me why, it just was a gut feeling.

So I went ahead and got up and went up to the base.

All of a sudden, a couple of like, blue, transparent type

lights appeared in the sky.

They were all of a sudden in the horizon, and one of them

broke towards us.

The only time the light-alls were working, as far as

came on and off, when I saw them were when the light passed,

and I have no idea what caused the light-alls to come on

and off other than the fact that the blue light, as it passed,

the light-alls came on.

ROBERT STACK: At virtually the same moment, 300 yards away,

Colonel Halt's investigation was about to culminate

in a remarkable close encounter.

Hey, here. Here.

COL. CHARLES HALT: The object was coming at us

at a very high rate of speed.

One of these beams of light fell very, very close to us,

sort of a pencil beam of light.

Down from the object to the ground near our feet.

This is unreal.

ROBERT STACK: The extraordinary visitor never returned.

Let's go.

COL. CHARLES HALT: I drafted a memo, sent a copy to London,

and it was swallowed up.

It became very quiet.

ROBERT STACK: This is a copy of Colonel Halt's memo.

It was submitted to British military authorities

who never acted on it.

The United States Air Force did not acknowledge

that the episode had occurred.

Then in 1983, a private citizen invoked

the Freedom of Information Act and Halt's memo was released.

Nevertheless, many remain unconvinced.

Spacecraft from another world, although not impossible,

is extraordinary.

ROBERT STACK: James McGaha is an astronomer

and noted UFO skeptic, who was director

of two private observatories.

And the burden of proof for any event that is extraordinary

is upon those making the claim, not upon those who look at it

from a skeptical perspective.

Where is the evidence?

Show me the evidence, and that's what science is all about.

On the first night, the night of 26 December 1980, at about 3

o'clock that morning, a bright fireball,

which is a very bright meteor, came

into the Earth's atmosphere.

And this is unquestionably what the John

Burroughs saw that night.

I've seen meteor showers come down before.

You know, it wasn't a meteor falling on the sky,

and it went up, not down.

Meteors fall from the sky, they don't go back up into the sky.

A meteor is not going to go up, go back and forth,

and maintain position in the sky for a long period of time.

A meteor's not going to send beams of light down.

I think both of them are being honest

as to what their perceptions are,

but human perception is very, very easily fooled,

and I think when they went out there to the woods,

everybody was out there inspecting to see the UFO.

With that preconceived notion, the way you view things

can be greatly influenced.

There's definitely something up there.

ROBERT STACK: McGaha believes that the glowing red light

Colonel Halt saw that night was simply

reflections from the revolving beam of a nearby lighthouse.

--moving away from us, moving fast.

COL. CHARLES HALT: There are too many unrelated things.

If it were just a reflection, how

does one explain two different sightings in two

different places in the sky?

How does one explain the object moving through the forest?

How does one explain the sighting in the forest

by the three airmen?

There are just too many things.

I have a lot of unresolved questions

I'm not sure I'll ever have answered.

I've had people suggest all sorts of things, everything

from I've seen the second coming of Christ

to the devil's after us.

I can't explain it, I really can't.

I know it was beyond the realm of anything

the we experience in ordinary life.

According to Colonel Halt, two other unconfirmed sightings

have been reported in the vicinity of Woodbridge airbase.

The first in January of 1981, the second, nine months later.

In the initial sightings of 1980,

at least 15 men, all of them US Air Force personnel,

witnessed the strange lights and objects firsthand.

The Air Force continues to have no official comment

on the entire series of events.

Next, the murder of two teenage sweethearts.

Some say they were the victims of a bizarre cult.

MARSHALL W. STEWART: Shane was a very lively, energetic kid.

To me, he was like Beaver Cleaver.

The all-around boy, always having

fun, always making sure that everybody else had fun.

He had a lot of dreams, a lot of goals,

and he was a very lovable kid.

When Shane and Sally met, it was just like two people

clicked on.

There was a bond there that was almost inseparable.

It was like the two kids were made for each other.

PAT WADE: Sally loved people.

She would do anything for friend.

Sally tried hard to please people,

she wanted people to like her.

She wanted people to respond to her and love her

ROBERT STACK: Shane Stewart and Sally McNelty

grew up around San Angelo, Texas,

a peaceful, bucolic ranching community.

But like so many other small towns,

there was more to San Angelo than meets the eye.

Independence Day, 1988 was a reunion

of sorts for Shane and Sally.

Each had recently returned to town,

and it was their first date more than four months.

It was also the last time they would ever be seen.

The next morning, a ranger discovered Shane's car

abandoned near OC Fisher Lake.

Fast food wrappers lay strewn across the front seat,

the keys were on the dashboard.

Shane and Sally were nowhere to be found.

LT. LOUIS A. HARGRAVES: Marshall Stewart felt his son would not

leave his car unlocked with the keys in it

and just merely walk off.

However, there were no signs of a struggle,

and so consequently we looked at it from--

at first, from the standpoint of two kids

ran off and got married.

Knowing how much he loved that car

and that he wouldn't leave it, I was

very, very concerned that something tragic had happened.

ROBERT STACK: Four months later, two skeletons

were found near Twin Buttes Lake,

17 miles from where Shane's car was abandoned.

Marshall Stewart was monitoring his police scanner

and immediately rushed to the scene.

MARSHALL W. STEWART: I got out of the pickup

and walked over to the area.

Gut feeling as a parent, I knew they had found Shane.

- Hi, I'm Marshal. - Hello.

Howdy. - Morning.

How you doing.

Y'all find Shane's body?

Yeah,

We sure did, and it's--

pretty gruesome in there.

I want to see.

Well, we just want to let you know that there's

not a whole lot left. - I want to see him.

OK.

It was-- it was Shane.

Dressed exactly like he'd left the house that night,

and I knelt down beside him and told him that I had found him,

and we would take him home.

ROBERT STACK: The forces of nature

had washed away all forensic clues,

but detectives were able to determine that both victims had

been killed by shotgun blasts.

The discovery of Shane and Sally's bodies

was a culmination of a four month search

which had introduced their parents

to a strange and frightening subculture.

Marshall Stewart and Pat Wade discovered that their children

were engaged in activities which many believed were linked

to a satanic cult. In Sally's case,

it appeared to be part of a desperate search

for acceptance in the wake of a painful and troubled childhood.

PAT WADE: I married and had Sally when I was very young.

So Sally and I spent a lot of our time growing up together.

We were like sisters when she was small,

and as Sally became a teenager, she

became more and more rebellious, and I had

less and less role in her life.

HELEN J. WILLIAMS: I don't think I ever heard

or call her mother "mother."

It was always "Pat."

She was real resentful towards the fact

that her dad wasn't around and she blamed it on Pat a lot

when we were kids.

ROBERT STACK: Sally began sneaking out late at night,

and on one occasion, Pat stayed up to confront her.

Sally

Pat!

Where have you been?

You scared me.

Scared you?

I've been waiting here all night.

I just went out for a walk.

Sally, you snuck through the window.

So what?

So I've been worried about you.

Look, you don't know anything about this, OK?

So just leave me alone.

PAT WADE: It was the only explanation she would give me,

so I called one friend of Sally's.

The boy's mother answered the phone,

and she told me that the kids were mixed up in Satan worship,

and she said that a group of kids had been at her house

one night and said they had a demon in a bottle.

Sally really got to point to where

she thought nobody loves me.

These people come along and they say OK, we'll

give you that love, we'll give you that companionship

that you need.

You just come with us and do what we ask.

ROBERT STACK: Sally began to attend ritualistic parties

on a regular basis.

One evening, she invited Helen to join her.

It's Ouija time.

Turn out the lights.

I'm going to do this, you want to?

No thanks.

I need some hands on the Oracle.

In the name of our Father, the great Satan,

we humbly bow to you now and turn over

our will to your great wisdom.

Spirit of the Oracle, we call on you tonight to guide us.

Sally?

HELEN J. WILLIAMS: Sally went into a trance--

Sally, are you all right?

HELEN J. WILLIAMS: --and it really scared me.

What?

I'm leaving.

OK.

Half of me said Sally's pulling

a stunt, just ignore it.

And half of me said well, maybe it's their kind of having fun.

ROBERT STACK: In the fall of 1987,

Sally began dating Shane Stewart.

She introduced him to her new friends.

According to Shane's father, his behavior

began to change as well.

Come on, boy, come on, what's wrong with you?

MARSHALL W. STEWART: Shane started getting into fights.

Come on!

MARSHALL W. STEWART: One day, Shane's

getting the better of this guy.

His two friends jumped in, and then he

was thrown into the river.

So I told him, I said, you should have learned the lesson.

One, not to fight, and two, be aware of where you are

and what you're doing, because people

can always gang up on you.

ROBERT STACK: In March of 1988, Sally called

Sheriff's deputy Larry Counts.

She and Shane had grown disillusioned

when some members of the cult began engaging

in criminal activities.

DPTY.

LARRY COUNTS: She and her boyfriend,

Shane, were members of this group

and they were trying to get away from it.

She said there was a lot of drugs involved,

there was a lot of group sex.

She also expressed that she had a weapon that had been given

to her by another member of the cult,

and when he gave it to her he told

her and Shane that the gun had been used in a murder robbery.

ROBERT STACK: Two months earlier, Shane and Sally

had moved in together.

They agreed to meet with Deputy Counts in their apartment

to hand over the gun.

Shane, he's here.

ACTOR AS SHANE STEWART: OK.

He's trying to find the gun.

OK. DPTY.

LARRY COUNTS: During this meeting when I first met them,

face to face, you really think that they

were making this stuff up.

But they seemed sincere.

This is the gun that guy gave us that I told you about.

OK.

Does he have any other weapon?

Yeah, he's got a whole toolbox full of guns.

I mean, it's scary, because you know these guys are crazy.

DPTY.

LARRY COUNTS: After they gave me this weapon

and we did some checking on it, it

turned out to be a stolen gun.

Then their story became a little bit more credible.

He's not going to find out about this, is he?

I can't promise you anything, but I will do my best.

Well, I appreciate it.

DPTY.

LARRY COUNTS: They did express fears that they might be hurt,

she and her boyfriend might be in some danger,

because it's a very secretive type group,

and they knew the ins, they knew the secrets,

and when they broke away they realized

that they were in some danger.

ROBERT STACK: Six weeks later, Shane

and Sally moved out of their apartment and left town,

separately.

But by early summer, both returned to San Angelo.

HELEN J. WILLIAMS (ON PHONE): Sally, what's wrong?

I've got a problem.

What kind of problem?

I think they're going to try to kill me.

ROBERT STACK: Two weeks prior to her disappearance,

Sally made a desperate telephone call to Helen.

HELEN J. WILLIAMS: And I said, nobody's

going to come and shoot you, I said what did you do?

She said, well, I really can't tell you.

I gotta go.

All right.

Bye.

HELEN J. WILLIAMS: She just tended to exaggerate things,

so I really didn't think much of it.

And I really didn't think to call Pat

and say, Pat, Sally's in trouble,

there's something wrong.

I mean, I didn't think anything about it.

Shane, it's for you.

MARSHALL W. STEWART: On July the 3rd,

around noon, I received a phone call.

And there was a man on the phone asking for Shane.

And as I walked away, I heard Shane mention money.

I'll have the money for your tomorrow.

Just lighten up, will you?

Goodbye.

MARSHALL W. STEWART: And so when Shane come out of the room,

I ask him, I said, is there a problem?

He says no.

I told him if there was a problem, I was his dad,

and I could help him handle it.

He says no, he said everything's fine.

He said I've taken care of it.

Thanks, dad.

On July the 4th, Shane told me that he was going to go

out and watch the fireworks.

So I gave Shane a hug, I told him

that I loved him, take care of himself,

and don't get in a bind.

And he said no problem.

He said he'd see me later, and left the house.

That was the last time I saw him alive.

ROBERT STACK: Police have reconstructed the events which

preceded the disappearance.

At 9:00 PM, Shane and Sally watched the annual fireworks

display at Lake Nasworthy.

Four hours later, a fisherman, anchored off shore,

spotted them at OC Fisher Lake six miles away.

He could see the young couple standing by a car,

then he saw a pickup truck approach.

No.

I said get in the truck.

No, we're not going to come with you!

Shut up.

Hey listen, I said we're not into that anymore, OK,

so just leave us alone!

RANDALL LITTLEFIELD: I heard them talking about--

said they don't want to be with them people no more.

I listened a little bit more, and they continued on again.

And then I got to thinking, well, it's just bunch of kids

out there, drinking, partying.

And I turned my boat around and I left.

ROBERT STACK: It was the last time anyone saw Shane Stewart

and Sally McNelty alive.

Marshall Stewart refused to believe

that the children had run away.

For four months, he scoured the lake area

and began questioning people whom he believed

might know something about his son's disappearance.

One of the youths he talked to was

allegedly involved in the cult.

Hi, I'm Shane's dad, do you remember me?

Mr. Stewart.

MARSHALL W. STEWART: Shane told me if he and this friend

ever got together, there was going to be bad trouble.

He said we're enemies, we hate each other.

If there's ever a confrontation, he said, there's

really going to be a fight.

What's wrong with your face?

It looks like you've been in a fight.

It's just a cut.

I ain't been in no fight.

OK.

Good luck.

MARSHALL W. STEWART: And I walked away from the door,

convinced he had confronted Shane somewhere,

and there had been a fight, and he just

wasn't telling me the truth.

I felt like Shane and Sally had gone to the lake,

and were probably sitting out there on the table,

listening to music, and been approached by probably some

of their friends or enemies.

LT. LOUIS A. HARGRAVES: We don't have any suspects

from the standpoint of something that we

could bring to the grand jury.

We have investigated it with the people that have been referred

to us by as having been in the cult activity,

and consequently they are suspects

until we solve the murder.

Most of my life, I was fearful of dying and leaving Sally

before she was grown.

And then for the tables to be turned,

and for Sally did leave me, this is

the worst nightmare that any parent can have,

and it never goes away.

MARSHALL W. STEWART: There's no words

to describe what you feel when you find your child murdered.

Nothing that you can do to console

them during their last hours.

These people need to be caught and brought in and punished

for what they've done, and to prevent something like this

from happening again.

I'd like to sit through the trial

and make sure that justice has been served.

ROBERT STACK: When Sally's body was discovered,

a fortune from a Chinese cookie was found in her pocket.

It read you'll always be surrounded by friends.

Authorities believe Shane Stewart and Sally McNelty were

murdered by their friends as a direct result

of their cult activities.

Police are convinced that there were witnesses to the crime who

were afraid to come forward.

If you have any information, please

contact the Tom Green County Sheriff's

Department in San Angelo, Texas.

When we return, a woman needs your help

to find her real mother, whom she has met only once.

Imagine growing up as an outsider in your own home,

feeling somehow separate from your family.

This is how a young woman named Carla

Downing felt her entire life.

Carla's feelings of alienation were

compounded by the tragic death of her mother

when Carla was just 16.

In June of 1965, shortly after her mother's death,

Carla and her younger brother went

to live with her grandparents in Alexandria, Virginia.

Carla's father was in the Army and stationed overseas.

CARLA DOWNING: Shortly after my mother's funeral,

a woman came to my grandmother's house, where I was living.

You know, at that time, I was 16.

I had a little bit of money in my pocket,

my grandmother was going to turn me loose

that day to go do some shopping.

I'm going to give you $20.

I want you to get me a quart of milk,

and you can use the rest for drinks,

or anything else you want. - Thank you.

- You're welcome. - Carla?

Oh, Carla, this is Mary.

Mary was it a friend of your mom's in high school.

Hi.

You look very familiar.

I saw you when you were just little baby.

CARLA DOWNING: And I do remember thinking, gosh,

this woman needs to sit down.

You know, she just looked kind of shook up or something,

and you know, I just kind of assumed that it

was over my mother's death.

In looking back, you know, I can remember what she wore,

where she sat, what I was doing at the time, what I had on.

You know, just-- it did come back to me,

and I really wished I would have paid

more attention at that moment.

ROBERT STACK: Carla was born in December 1948.

Her father, Chester Libby, was an Army Sergeant.

Her mother, Mildred, a secretary.

In 1951, Carla's brother Ronnie was born.

But within a few short years, Carla began to feel

that she somehow didn't fit in.

CARLA DOWNING: The whole time I was growing up,

I always knew that--

you know, there was just something not right.

Mainly because of the difference between my brother and I.

He had blue eyes and blond hair, and it was curly.

And you know, I had straight, dark hair, dark eyes,

olive complexion.

You know, it was just obvious to me, even,

that we just weren't alike.

ROBERT STACK: Carla kept her troubling suspicions

to herself.

After the death of her mother, Carla's father moved

back to the US and remarried.

Carla graduated from high school, married, and had a son.

But even as a grown woman, Carla never stopped feeling

out of place in her own family.

In 1990, Carla's father died, and she traveled to Addington,

Virginia for his funeral.

Oh-- wait, wait a minute.

Bob, would you take that please? - I sure will.

Honey, I've got something in the trunk of the car

I've want you to have.

OK.

Now, Carla, this belonged to your dad

and he wanted you to have it.

All his military papers are in here, and a few more.

CARLA DOWNING: When I got the briefcase,

I just wanted to go over each and every paper, you know,

and remember all of the different places

that we lived together, and that sort of thing.

And in the back of my mind, I knew there was

something I was looking for.

I just knew there was something in there.

ROBERT STACK: That night, when she was finally alone,

Carla began to sift through the contents

of her father's briefcase.

Two documents in particular caught her attention.

The first, dated November 1945, listed

Carla's father as married.

The second document, filed in November 1948,

listed him as divorced.

Carla was shocked to find that her father had been married

before he met her mother, had been divorced just one month

prior to Carla's own birth.

The discrepancy between the two documents

heightened all of Carla's suspicions from childhood.

Well, that's good.

Listen, the reason I'm calling--

do you know anything about daddy being married before?

ROBERT STACK: Two days later, Carla

called her Uncle Norman, her father's only living brother.

She asked him to tell her the truth,

and a surprising saga began to emerge.

--shows him being married with two dependents.

CARLA DOWNING: Norman made me feel

really good, because I got my initial straight answer

from him.

Somebody finally said, no, you aren't his daughter.

You were already there when he met your mother.

So at that point, I felt a sense of relief,

because at least I knew something.

I had a direction.

Hello?

RONNIE DOWNING (ON PHONE): Hi, Carla, this is Ronnie.

How you doing, honey?

ROBERT STACK: An hour later, Carla's brother Ronnie called

with more unsettling news.

--were married once before?

ACTOR AS CARLA DOWNING (ON PHONE):

Oh, I knew that dad was married before, you know,

because of the papers and what Uncle Norman told me.

RONNIE DOWNING (ON PHONE): Well, I found out from Uncle Ed

that mom was married also.

Well, then that would mean I was

probably her daughter by a previous marriage then, right?

RONNIE DOWNING (ON PHONE): Well, here's the thing.

I noticed something peculiar on my birth certificate

a couple of years ago, and I looked at it again last night.

And it states the number of children

born to mom before me, if any, and it

lists this figure as none.

CARLA DOWNING: If his birth certificate is correct,

that means that he and I are not brother and sister.

So, now I have a father who wasn't my father, a brother who

isn't my brother, and I'm not real sure about my mother

at this point.

ROBERT STACK: Carla Downing's tangled family history

finally began to unravel.

Carla learned from her uncles that her mother Mildred

had suffered a series of miscarriages

during her first marriage.

In 1948, Mildred met a recent immigrant named Mary

who was pregnant and unmarried.

In that time and place, Mary knew that she would

be unable to keep her baby.

According to Mildred's brothers, the two women

concocted a scheme to switch ID cards in the hospital.

What's her name?

Her name is Mildred Graham.

OK.

She doesn't speak any English.

ROBERT STACK: In doing so, Mildred

would be listed on the birth certificate

as the child's mother.

ED NORRIS: From the very beginning, even

as a kid, because I was about 12 when I think this occurred,

I always had the feeling that that Carla really should know.

I don't know why I felt that way, even at that age,

but I almost had a sense that someday it

was going to come out.

She's a beautiful.

Beautiful.

May I hold her?

CARLA DOWNING: It's my thinking that this must have really

been hard on Mary, because, you know,

if that time she felt like she could not have

a child for whatever reason--

I mean, she was concerned enough that she went to this extreme

with my mother to see that I was in a good family.

I just have this need to find Mary.

I want to be in the same room with someone I resemble.

I want my mother.

I want somebody that I've been looking for for a long time.

On the night of our broadcast, Carla Downing's prayers

are finally answered.

Her natural mother, Mary Maxwell,

was still very much alive and very anxious

to see her daughter.

Carla was also overjoyed to discover she had half sisters.

Eight days later, Carla traveled from her home in Tennessee

to Maryland, where she was finally

reunited with her mother.

MARY MAXWELL: You know I see her come, I knew it was her.

I couldn't believe it.

And all I could say was, Carla, oh Carla!

And I ran out the door, and she ran--

almost fell out the car, I think.

And-- we couldn't do nothing else but hold each other

and cry.

[laughing]

CARLA DOWNING: When I saw her for the first time,

I just can't describe that feeling.

It's home at last.

I can breathe again.

It's just the happiest moment in my whole life, you know.

Just the happiest moment in my whole life.

This is your grandfather and your grandmother,

and this is your grandfather and grandmother

when they got married.

MARY MAXWELL: It's like a miracle.

I couldn't believe it.

I couldn't believe it for the longest--

I says this not happening to us.

It only happens to other people that they find somebody

they're looking for, not us.

But yet it happened to us.

When I found out that my mom was alive and healthy and OK,

that was just the best news in the world.

That-- the extra bonus was I have two sisters and a nephew.

So it's a happy ending.

It's a fairy tale come true.

ROBERT STACK: On our next "Unsolved Mysteries," history

records that 26-year-old John Wilkes Booth, the assassin

of President Abraham Lincoln, was

killed by union troops in 1865.

Now some historians claim that Booth actually managed

to escape and flee to freedom.

While researching this story, we were surprised to discover

that even the "Encyclopedia Britannica" is not sure of what

happened to John Wilkes Booth.

Join me for this fascinating and controversial journey

into the past, next time on "Unsolved Mysteries."

[theme music]